Conventionally, iris leaves are made of thin sheet steel by a series of steps including stamping, deburring, pickling and the attachment of hinge pins. Since it is generally desirable to minimize the reflection of light from their surfaces, steels of mat appearance are preferred which, however, are less corrosion-resistant than shiny steels. The riveting of the small hinge pins to the steel foils is laborious and time consuming. Owing to their mode of manufacture, the leaves generally have uniform thickness and sharp edges resulting in considerable wear as the contacting foils swing past one another.